The Hong Kong government has announced a new wage subsidy aimed at encouraging employment in the city's financial tech sector. Under the program, the city has allocated HK$120 million or roughly $15.5 million to support Fintech companies in the hiring of new employees.
The program, which is called the FinTech Anti-epidemic Scheme for Talent Development (FAST), is aiming to at least have 1,000 financial tech professionals employed by Hong Kong-based firms within the next 12 months. Participating companies will be given a subsidy of HK$10,000 per month for one year for each employee they hire.
Hong Kong's Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Christopher Hui Ching-yu, announced on Wednesday that interested companies can apply for the FAST program starting on Thursday. The program is part of the government's latest effort to revitalize its core financial tech sector, which had been greatly affected by the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Only Hong Kong residents with degrees and accredited certification advanced technologies such as blockchain, accounting, artificial intelligence, and information technology will be eligible for the program. Application for the FAST program will also only be open to companies that are registered in Hong Kong and those that have been in operations since January of this year.
Hui noted in a statement that his agency hopes that the FAST program would further enrich the city's rapidly growing Fintech sector and give it a competitive edge against other countries. As the world's leading international financial center, it would only make sense that the government set up supporting programs to ensure its position.
With the current economic situation, companies are now more reluctant to increase their workforce amid their continued losses. However, the city believes that by providing enough capital to strengthen operations, companies should be able to overcome the hurdles.
The FAST program is the latest in a series of programs created by the Hong Kong government to prevent any further economic contractions. It is also part of a much wider strategy to combat unemployment, under the government's HK$6 billion Anti-epidemic Fund. The Fund aims to create at least 30,000 jobs in the next two years. In the three months from March to May, Hong Kong's unemployment rate had hit 5.9 percent, the worst ever recorded in over 15 years.
Last month, the government, through the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), launched a $10.8 million wage subsidy program for fresh graduates. The program mainly focused on the hiring of graduates in the banking sector.
